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Apatosaurus
'''Apatosaurus '''was large sauropod dinosaur that lived during the Late Jurassic Period about 145 years ago. Apatosaurus was one of the longest sauropod dinosaurs (the longest being A. louisae) only by far from Diplodocus and was originally know as Brontosaurus by the time of its discovery, it like other most sauropods had a longneck which was conjoined by at least 24 vertebrae, but was less elongated and more heavily constructed. Attached to the neck was a elongated head small in comparison to size with the jaws carrying 24 chisel-like teeth for crushing low brow plants. It ranged from throughout the western U.S. from Wyoming to Nebraska and a roughly common animal, coexisting with dinosaurs like Allosaurus and Stegosaurus. There were at least 3 species of Apatosaurus. It was the last of the Diplodocid family or double beamed dinosaurs. Description Etymology and Spelling Apatosaurus is one of the most very known dinosaurs by its synonomous name, despite the name being abandoned by scientific terms it is still used by by many people who recited as such, however the cause of this is because the name Brontosaurus was around much longer than the newly named Apatosaurus which led to people to calling it as such. Despite popularity it is usually called by its genus name and mostly never by its species name, However most people don't know the rules in scientific naming. Many examples today are that most people who refer to different kinds of animals by their binominal name which refers to the whole group. Apatosaurus or Brontosaurus are both of greek origins with Apatosaurus meaning "Depective Lizard" and Brontosaurus meaning "Thunder Lizard". The popular synonomous name, Brontosaurus is usually called Brontasaurus by the sound of its pronounciation. The letter "A" between the name can be seen numerous of books or labels that feature the animal. However popular the spelling is wrong. Dinosaur names are created according to the rules of the Binomial nomenclature. Binomial names consist of two parts. Tyrannosaurus is the genus name, while rex is the species name. Genus names must be written with a capital letter but the species name don't. In many cases the (mostly long names) are shortened. In that case, only the first letter of the Genus name is written. That letter is followed by a period, not a "-". All binomial nomenclatural taxon should be written in italics. Therefore, the taxa be written like this: Apatosaurus louisae or for short: A. louisae Protrayal Paleobiology Posture In early depictions of Diplodocids, like Apatosaurus, they were often shown to have their legs front limbs to be sprawled out much like that seen in reptiles today, they were also often protrayed to have their necks up high in the air along their large tails dragging on the ground. However scientist had argued on that the heart would have trouble sustaining sufficient blood pressure to the neck all the way to head. Furthermore more studies showed that diplodocids had less flexible necks than previously believed, because the neck vertebrae would not have premitted the neck to bend upwards, cause of this is was only thought that Apatosaurus lived on low browsing plants (as to which is seen in the film). However subsequent studies demonstrated that all tetrapods (four-footers) are able to hold their necks at a maximum possible vertical extension when in a normal, alert posture and argued that the same would hold true to sauropods barring any unknown, unique characteristics that set the soft tissue anatomy of their necks apart from that of other animals. Apatosaurus like Diplodocus would held its neck angled upward with the head pointed downwards in resting posture. Tail At the time of its discovery, Apatosaurus was thought ot have dragged its tail like most reptiles. The figuration of the tail vertebrae was rather short and heavily built, in outdated restorations the tail was rarely seen being used for combat against predators which serves that tail was too heavy. However later in discovery of another Apatosaurus skeleton it was known that the animal had more of an appearance compared to Diplododcus along with a whip-like tail. Using computer modulations it was suggested by tail that Apatosaurus could make a crackling sound with its tail in order to scare off predators. Paleoecology Habitat Originally upon its discovery and large size, Apatosaurus was thought to have been slow moving and not capable of running when in danger. Instead Apatosaurus (Brontosaurus at the time) on its misguiding boxed-shaped skull and was thought teeth weren't designed to eat hard plants, it was thought that the dinosaur lived near wet marshes, meadows and swamps where there provived enough wet plants like water lillies and ferns to feed the creature. However this outdated material is now invalid as Apatosaurus migrated from place to place and was fit to eat drier plants. Planet of Dinosaurs Apatosaurus/Brontosaurus makes an appearance in Planet of Dinosaurs, but only serves as a cameo animal. The Apatosaurus is the first dinosaur the crew members cross paths with as Jim alerts the others of its presence. The Jim and others come across the dinosaur. The Apatosaurus is steadily grazing on the vegetation unbeknowist the humans presence, Because of this sighting they realized that their on a planet that has the same evolutionary life-cycle has Earth's. The crew resume to let the Apatosaurus graze in order to not alert it and tread on to investigate the planet. Category:Dinosaurs Category:Cameo Animals Category:Planet of Dinosaurs